Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-02
A CANNIBAL AT WHIST.
A Ticklish Contest In Which a Man
Eater Took Part-An Old
Mans Story.
Some Points About Cannibel Cooking.
Trying to Wean His People from
Roast Missionary.

I have known two cannibals Intimately,
and they were both most agreeable men,
says Lawrence Goodrich ia the New York
Mail and Express. One was my host in
New Zealand and the other my partner at
whist in Fiji. The race is dying out so
fast, and the opportunity of counting g
cannibsl among your acquaintances is
growing so rare, that my impressions OF
them and this remark on the subject may
not be without interest.
During trip through the North Island
OF New Zealand in 1889 I met in the vi
entity OF the beautiful Bay of Islands
the old Maori chief TIE Hemers. At this
time he was approaching eighty years of
age, but his intellect was bright, and his
memory apparently unimpaired. In his
younger days he must have been man
OF magnificent physique, but now he was
bent and withered, and his wonderfully
tattooed face resembled some curiously
notified piece of parchment. All mis- life
had been passed in the North Island,
mostly in the neighborhood of Psihfs.
He well remembered the arrival OF the
first white settlers, and many and Won
derful were the yarns he told about
them. On the subject of cannibalism he
spoke as an expert, having psrtsken OF
many human joint. From him learned
that the Maoris never INDUCED in canni-
balism except in the case of enemies
killed or taken prisoner in battle. Pris-
oners, however, were often kept for years
as slaves, and then On the occasion Of
some great feast occurring, taken and
killed. This would account for the
stories told by the early missionary
settlers of the slaughter of human victims
in time of peace. Rarely except after a
big battle, or the wreck of some ship on
their rock bound coast, did the Maoris
indulge in human bsDquet. The feast
was conducted with considerable cere-
mony in "pahk specially reserved for
the purpose and which went by the name
Of "Ksi Tangata," which means "Eat
Man" The method of c0oking was as
follows: "The body was hung up to a
beam by the neck, scelded with boiling
water and carefully scraped with oyster
shells. 1t was then taken down, the hair
sll cut off and the head decapitsted. The
brain being considered great delicacy
was reserved for the chief. In the case
Of the men killed in battle the heart was
the property Of the slayer. The entrails
were then taken out and the trunk filed
with hot stones. 1t was then placed in
an oven built in the ground, covered
over with stones and allowed
to cook for at least twelve hours.
It was customary to place the
body in the oven about sunset and the
whole night during which the cooking was
going on was passed in feasting and
dancing. At early dawn the meat wss
taken out and cut. up for distribution.
Some OF the flesh was gwen to the Wo-
men. and each man on receiving his share
retired to his "pah" and ate it in private.
TIE Hemera could give me no reason for
this last custom, which is q very curious
one, as at all other baEquets the food is
eaten in public. l fancy it must have
originated from the fact that their inOrdi-
nate greed for human flesh was apt TO
lead to quafrels during the consumption
of it. For it Is held to be heinous
crime to do anything to disturb
the sacred harmony during the progress
Of feast. Should this be solution Of
the custom it may be taken as corfrma-
ton of the theory that the practice of
cannibalism tends to brutalize those who
indulge in it. To show how all-ebsorb-
ing the taste becomes, TIE Hemera told
me that on one occasion young girl was
allotted to him as portion Of number
of slaughtered victims, and putting her
into canoe he carried her fac from the
settlement into the bush and there
remained until he had finished her
Can anything more CHASTITY bei
imagined than this weird feast in tA&s
depths of New Zealand forest. Never,
we are apt to imagine, does a man feel
more near to God than when he PAGES ins
solitude the paths Of some tenantleRs
wild. How passing strange it is that man
clothed in the very image OF his Maker,
men created but little lower than the
angels, should be capable of devouring
with ghoulish glee his fellow-m6n. l con-
Tess that after hearing this story felt
losthiug for the old man which 1 never
got over, and l was not sorry to leave
him and his grim "reminiscences far be
hind, while I betOok myself TO fresh fields
and pastures new.
PLAYING WHIST WITH CANNIBAL.
From New Zealand to the Fiji Islands
is no great distance, and during q fort
nights stay in that lovely group L met
several notorious cennibals. ! Moreover,
experienced the novel sensation OF play.
ing q rubber Ct whist with one Of them.
At the time of the visit King Thakambau
was alive and much given to hospitality
to any travellers who visited DeVaka. A
handsome allowance from the British
government enabled him to indulge this
Vhim to his hearts content, and
every evening an entertainment of some
sort was provided for the palace.
Thskambau was then sixty three years eff
sge, but looked older; a fine looking man
standing over six feet in hight, with in
tetligent but. crafty features. He had
discarded native costume and usnslly ep-
peared dressed in black frock coat and
stoyepipe hat, which did not aud to his
dignity One evening 1 and q friend
strolled into the Kings garden and found
him sitting on the veranda of one of his
houses playing euchre with his son
Prince Abel. As we watched the game
and chatted about cards I was surprised
to learn that Thakambau knew whist. Il
appeared that he had learned the game
few years ago before when he was the
guest of Sir Hercules Robinson at Sid
ney. He had not been able to make il
popular with his people, however, and
Prince Abel denounced 1t emphaticGllY as
STOOL game" AT the Kings suggestion